the spirits song

chapter 2: shine on harvest moon

( ahh sorry for not uploading for like a year lmao, i've been busy with life and crap but here's a shiny new chapter hohoho , also i'll put the song that plays on the gramophone somewhere )

Imber used to have an alarm clock.

It was a sickly yellow, and had an piercing shrill when you turned it on. Nowadays she would wake up with the sun, as it melted through the blinds and oozed onto the carpet.

That morning she woke at the crack of dawn, listening to the creaks and the moans of the house, shifting with the wind. Imber opened her dark eyes and sighed, staring blankly at the peeling walls.

Lovely.

In her room was a small chest of drawers, a dusty gramophone, her harp, her suitcase and a few books on foreign prints and the history of photography.

She sat upright, smoothing down her white linen sheets with tapered fingers, and groggily got out of bed, her clean socks stained from the dirt of the house. She bent down to the gramophone and gently lifted the brass knob , resting it on the vinyl . It crackled and buzzed calmly, till the song began to play.

"Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon,
So shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal. "

She danced softly, humming to herself as she dressed. She took down her hair, letting the curls tumble down to her shoulders.

She quietly sung along, tapping her feet quietly on the floor.

" Can I join? "
A faint whisper; like a breath of someone she hadn't quite met yet. She felt herself smile to her chest.

"Sure"
And just like that, her arm was lifted upwards. She laughed at the bizarre notion of it all, her arm hanging in mid air. Then it twirled with a flick at her wrist
flying her round
and round
and

"IMBER"

Her heart dropped
(along with her arm)
to see her mother standing by the doorframe, illuminated in the morning light but still angry.

"What did I tell you about playing with spirits?
What did i tell you?"